New Reuters Poll Shows That Over Fifty Percent Of Americans Believe The Presidential Nomination Process Is 'Rigged'

By: Katrina Manning | April 29, 2016

According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 51 percent of American voters believe that the system U.S. political parties use to pick their candidates for the White House is "rigged." In addition, more than two-thirds want to see the process changed.

The United States is one of just a handful of countries that gives regular voters a say in who should make it onto the presidential ballot. Although, the state-by-state system of primaries, caucuses and conventions is complex.

Even though the popular vote has grown in influence, the parties still have a lot of control. One of the ways the parties can influence the election is through the use of delegates--these are party members who are assigned to support contenders at their respective conventions, normally based on voting results. Yet, the parties decided how delegates are awarded in each state--the rules are different for Republicans and Democrats.

If the race is too close to call, the delegates can use their personal opinions. Royce Young, 76, a resident of Society Hill, South Carolina and Hillary Clinton supporter said, "I'd prefer to see a one-man-one-vote system. The process is so flawed." Republican presidential front-runner has called the rules flawed on multiple occasions.

After the Colorado Republican party awarded all its delegates to Ted Cruz, Donald Trump lashed out in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece saying "the system is being rigged by party operatives with 'double-agent' delegates who reject the decision of voters." Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Trump's complaints, "rhetoric," and said the rules would not be changed before the Republican convention in July.

On the Democratic side, hundreds of the party's superdelegates overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton. This is something that Clinton's rival, Bernie Sanders, has highlighted. Yet, Clinton has said she is beating Sanders in both total votes cast and delegates.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said, "The popular vote overwhelms the rules usually, but in these close elections, everyone pays attention to these arcane rules."

The poll also showed that 27 percent of likely voters did not know how the primary process works and 44 percent did not understand why delegates were involved in the first place. The responses were similar for Democrats and Republicans. The poll included 1,582 Americans and had a credibility interval of 2.9 percentage points.